Guatemala GDP Q3 2015

Guatemala: Economy sees slight pickup in Q3

January 9, 2016

In Q3 2015, the economy expanded 3.9% over the same period of the previous year. The expansion marked an acceleration compared to the 3.4% increase tallied in Q2. The pickup was mainly driven by stronger fixed investment and private consumption, which more than compensated for a decrease in public spending and a poorer performance of the external sector.

On the external side of the economy, exports of goods and services in Q3 rose 6.2%, which followed Q2’s 3.5% increase. Imports accelerated sharply from a 7.1% increase in Q2 to a four-year high of 12.1% in Q3. As a result, the external sector’s net contribution to overall growth deteriorated from minus 1.8 percentage points in Q2 to minus 2.8 percentage points in Q3.

Consensus Forecast participants see GDP growing 3.5% in 2016, which is down 0.1 percentage points from last month’s forecast. For 2017, panelists expect the economy to expand 3.6%.